Comparing Emerson And Transcendentalism

810 Words4 Pages
In Nature To better understand Transcendentalism, I referred back to a Unitarian Minister named William Ellery Channing. The text mentions the opposition Transcendentalists had with Unitarianism, such as “cold rationality and materialism”, but they both shared the belief that the “power of human intuition” was at the core of being close to God (Belasco and Johnson 730). Transcendentalists needed to relate to God, or be at one with Him, in a private, personal setting. They believed in “the spiritual nature of each individual” (Belasco and Johnson 730). Emerson’s words in “The Nature”, describe how nature can be seen differently by those who embrace it and those who take it for granted, though not on purpose. It was difficult to narrow it down to just one phrase that stood out as an example of Transcendentalism. His entire essay seemed to be an ongoing interpretation of how our souls are tied to God through nature. In one great example, he stated “In the woods, we return to reason and faith” (Emerson 783). He explains how the solitude in the woods makes him forget…show more content…
In “Self-Reliance”, Emerson explains how a person needs to experience things for himself. He questions the authority, truth, and wisdom of those that come before us. The stories we are told by our elders, stories that are passed down for many years, are not our own stories. If we only rely on what we are told, we are not experiencing a personal relationship with God and nature. He doesn’t focus strictly on a spiritual standpoint in his essay. He addresses the fact that people are too afraid to speak up what is really on their minds. It is clear he is opposed to conformity as he claims “Well, most men have bound their eyes with one or another handkerchief, and attached themselves to some one of these communities of opinion. This conformity makes them not false in a few particulars, authors of a few lies, but false in all particulars” (Emerson
Show More
Related

  • Comparing Transcendentalism In Henry David Thoreau And Ralph Waldo Emerson

    674 Words  | 3 Pages

    About mid-nineteenth century a philosophical and religious movement known as transcendentalism emerged, protesting against the general state of spirituality and intellectualism. Transcendentalism emphasizes interrelated relationships between nature, divinity, and human kind; a faith in intuition, by way of passive perception. Among this movement arise two philosophers: Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau was Emerson’s student and adopted many of Emerson’s views, but also used those

    Read More

More about Comparing Emerson And Transcendentalism

Open Document